Procedures To Shooting Portraits on 8x10

[braxus]

Im getting an Intrepid Black 8x10 by late summer and working on getting a Fuji L 300mm f5.6 for my standard lens. What is the recommended procedure to shooting head shot portraits on 8x10? Im thinking f stop, recommended shutter speed range and how close to Subject i should get. Portraits will be outdoors with available light. Film will be slower speed films and most likely black and white.

 

[koraks]

Only you know what kind of image you want to walk away with. That determines everything. There's no universal answer.

If I assume a couple of things, my first thoughts would be:

• f/11-f/22 depending on how close you'll be to the model since you'll likely need a lot more depth of field than you'd get closer to wide open.
• At 300m you'll be pretty close for a frame-filling head shot. It may not be pleasing to the model getting so close as 300m is on the wide side so you enter the territory of the 'big nose problem'. A longer lens would be nicer.
• The aperture combined with slow film dictates that you either need a lot of light or you'll have to contend with relatively slow shutter speeds. If you go for 'lots of light' and your setup relies on outdoor & available light, this may boil down to using direct sunlight, which is harsh. If you rely on softer natural light (open shade, overcast weather) shutter speeds will be slow. You know the drill. Organize for it. If you want to avoid motion blur in the model by using fast-ish shutter speeds (let's say 1/25 and faster), you may end up using more direct sunlight and that means you'll have to bring reflection screens etc. to soften the light on the model.
• For critical focus, you may want to bring some kind of head rest so the model doesn't accidentally move a little closer or further away from the lens between composing the photo and exposing the film.
• Be ware of the background. Outdoor portraits often end up being spoiled by 'busy' backgrounds. It's easy to overlook when using large format because there's so much going on that you forget focusing on this.

Why do the portraits have to be recorded on 8x10 film? Why is a different and less unwieldy recording format not a feasible option?

 

[MARTIE]

A 300mm lens on 4x5 is great for head shots but I think you'll find the same lens on 8x10 surprisingly wide. At least that was my experience.
Certainly for long-term, I would look for something around 450mm+.

Due to the large negative size, 400 film works very well, especially for slower lenses, bellows extension, faster shutter speed etc.

 

[Ian C]

The best portraits are made at a subject-to-lens distance of at least 2.5 meters. I prefer 3 meters. This is due to one essential element—perspective. Perspective is a direct function of subject distance—and no other factor.

As noted in post #2, a 300 mm lens makes satisfying tightly framed portraits on the 4” x 5” format because its focal length relative to the format places the lens at the proper distance for pleasing portrait perspective. To replicate this on the 8” x 10” requires a lens of 600 mm. A telephoto lens with the required coverage will be easier to use, as it requires less bellows extension. A telephoto requires less bellows because the nodal points of the lens are generally forward of the frontmost element.

Some will argue that a significantly shorter lens is perfectly adequate for portraiture. That may be so for broader-framed portraits. However, they might forget that a tightly framed portrait requires a longer lens to place it at the proper distance from the subject.